Umbereen S Nehal, MD, MPH Profile picture
Sep 9, 2020 18 tweets 16 min read Read on X
This

@bruce_y_lee succinctly says what I lay out in multi-tweet threads

This is it in a nutshell

Divide and conquer is as old as time. Ask anyone whose history includes being colonized

#Healthcare is 1/5th of the U.S. economy. You bet non-clinicians want a piece of that
If you are someone who touches patients, has ever touched patients, provides direct care, has any clinical background, I'll be totally frank, I respect your role. If your salary adds to the 30% administrative overhead of #healthare in America, then I have questions about #value.
This is a framework my coauthors and I offered on how to assess value and cut waste. Let's start with administrative burden. What exactly do you get paid to do in #healthcare? (we should be asking) What does your job do to deliver on the quadruple aim?

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.117…
We must take these questions right to the top if institutions doing this yet hire/pay low-value non-clinical staff. As a former #Medicaid medical director I've asked tough questions of my peers. All in #healthcare need to be accountable on #value.

npr.org/2020/05/10/853…
There are these hidden costs & hidden people. I get that Americans need jobs - I don't hold that against anyone. But the #1 cause of personal bankruptcy in America is unpaid #healthcare bills. So, yes, totally get a job...that helps & adds #value.

nytimes.com/2018/07/16/ups…
Instead of holding on to old ways of extracting value, dependent on turf. (By the way, most clinicians are employed so it is not your turf anyhow anymore)
...need to be thinking about the future of work, future of healthcare, future of supply chains, etc forbes.com/sites/ashleyst…
I will fully admit it: I've had it. The epidemic levels of #burnout that existed prior to #COVIDー19 were already driving harm to all - patients, clinicians, the system, the bottom line. @EricTopol is spot on here. This is betrayal. medscape.com/viewarticle/92…
To be clear, some non-#clinical staff ARE frontline & high #value, like environmental services

A @MITSloanFellows peer had a business idea to monitor cleaning staff. I did not mince words. Could lead to #bullying. She listened
healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hbl…
@Health_Affairs #MedTwitter ImageImageImageImage
Yes, I am not touching patients this year. Struggled w/ that decision once pandemic rose & had simultaneous offers to join @MITSloanFellows as a Dean’s scholar (covers 10% of cost) or serve+earn salary in #NYC in another CMO role overseeing 10 centers.

linkedin.com/posts/usnehal_…
I knew I would be facing these same challenges that other mission #publichealth leaders face, especially mission driven WOC answering up food chain to #business execs - was I equipped to be more successful than other #NewYorkTough women?

No, am not.

nytimes.com/2020/08/04/nyr…
Would I have, in addition to the title, have actual support and back up to do and say the right thing?

I was the rare licensed physician willing to be quoted in this article by @MarketWatch @Quantanamo - often possessing a license puts one at risk for retaliation.

Not ok.
Admit, am nigh obsessive in my documentation, thus safer than some of my peers. Should anyone try to retaliate, they would end up under a mountain of documentation & never dig out. (That is also how I never lost a public hearing for the Commonwealth) Cuz:

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
In particular, non-#clinical staff whose surveillance is #bullying and/or silencing on issues critical to #quality, #safety, #safetyculture = unacceptable level of harm

Cut the waste.
Let’s have functional teams and healthy culture.
Let’s get back to heart of matter Image
Instead, let’s commit to #healthcare #transparency - requires trust, community, culture, psychological safety. Today is @donberwick’s bday. @harvardmed #Pediatrician who founded @TheIHI. He left a traditional system to create a new #mindset & #framework

ihi.org/communities/bl…
This is personal on many levels. The system I willingly sacrificed my 20s to almost killed me

I am thankful for the courage of this trainee who caught what (attendings, experienced nurses, employed pharmacists, etc and) everyone (else) missed

Speak up
Save lives
#MedTwitter
Nor can I tolerate even one more clinician suicide. I just can’t

Yes, all of this is very personal

We must not allow our service, commitment, courage, or sacrifice to be exploited any longer

Convert current system waste & barriers to #safety & #value

nytimes.com/2020/07/11/nyr…
If you are a frontline worker, environmental services, doctor, nurse, receptionist, delivery person, you are dealing with this

as compared to those hiding behind computer screens offering #HealthCareHero for optics

Need: resources
Need: results

nytimes.com/2020/05/16/hea…
There is waste & harm in healthcare
Go after that

“administrative complexity, $265.6 billion”

“estimated total annual costs of waste: $760 billion-$935 billion

There are shared harms to all at frontline

Let’s not compound that harm
#MedTwitter

jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…

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More from @usnehal

May 29, 2023
This. When I had experiencing #bullying towards myself, I had just walked away or been silent, keep moving forward.

Once I had some degree of “rank”, felt others should not “just deal”

I did speak up on behalf of those less powerful… which only set me up for this mislabeling.
That is not to say that as faculty you should not speak up for or defend students are trainees

but you should be aware of this.

If the #bully is a woman, then she can always claim that she is being “attacked”… “as a woman”

That narrative aligns with a common reality.
False narratives spread quickly

if they align with something that people recognize as a truth (& may even have experienced themselves)

This is particularly why Machiavellian types are strategic/smart to utilize/promote a female bully while they stay more quiet/behind scenes
Read 13 tweets
Jun 24, 2022
@ErinMarieMHCMEd @danpreston @JoshuaMZeitz @AmandaMarcotte All of this was already tested out vs American Muslims - the country was just fine with it. Regardless of what you think of the dad, killing/executing American citizen children by drone, along with father, should have been a big red flag on due process.

theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
@ErinMarieMHCMEd @danpreston @JoshuaMZeitz @AmandaMarcotte ~Half of Americans approve of/support torture. The idea is you can use profiling/bias to assume someone is a terrorist or sympathizes with terrorists, assume has information, torture them first, then retroactively justify violation of human rights.

pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017…
@ErinMarieMHCMEd @danpreston @JoshuaMZeitz @AmandaMarcotte Loss of Civil Liberties happened after 9/11: even if go white water rafting, spied on

pandemic killed >1 million dead but CDC has removed mask mandate & FL just refused to order vaccines=no interest in saving lives/prevention 9/11 killed 3K➡️police state

gothamist.com/news/nypd-spie…
Read 5 tweets
Jun 23, 2022
I think I need to go to law school. It might be a bit late to be #RBG & make it to SCOTUS… but seriously, it is all about the courts, the law, legal precedents.

Or maybe I just need to make myself small/silent enough to be able to fit into a government job again?
As hard as it is for me to stay in government long term given all the regulations that box you in/tie you up

plus needing to be a public servant to serve every taxpayer, even the ones you don’t agree with/like

Despite that, you *can* have an impact…small things at scale matter
There are times like this I want to be a cat & have 9 lives because there SO too many things I want to do…

…even though other times I am like, okay, how long exactly am I supposed to serve in this life because I am exhausted. (Albeit I did just recover from anemia.)
Read 5 tweets
Jun 23, 2022
For the first time in my life I felt unsafe doing #GOTV & got personally targeted & my photo posted on a QAnon type site.

More appalling was how many on #healthcare & #academia, if you are connected on social media like FB, are pro-violence & anti-rule of law & support J6.
If you are a Black, immigrant, LGBTQ, chronic illness, Muslim, etc person, patient, #HCW, teacher, heck yeah, is scary

Thing is those who have been safely tucked in cocoon of suburbia, worried about junior making the cut for the bball team
now feels suddenly scary

Us: not new
We *need* the ppl who typically enjoy more safety to step up. It feels “ick” to report, like you are an informant in Nazi Germany or something, but it is opposite: being “nice” & “not controversial” & “let’s all get along”
➡️empowers bullies

Be a true ally
Not bully ally

Cuz:
Read 5 tweets
Jun 22, 2022
Anyone who did not see this coming does not understand #tech…(which includes people who design #AI).

“Important nuances were lost in translation when a rule commonly used to measure disparate impacts on protected groups in hiring was codified for easy-to-use tools…AI fairness”
Every time I see “our #AI will solve bias! Give us your #DEI budget!” win an #innovation award, accelerator, #hackathon I feel exhausted…

institutions would rather purchase ineffective & worsening-the-problem #tech than hard work of holding ppl accountable or change culture
And this is how #DEI - how currently approached - is ineffective & wastes money because a small amount of money is thrown at it with zero/minimal real hard work & unwillingness to be uncomfortable. Hence these bills: amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/01/19…
Read 5 tweets
Jun 21, 2022
When will we admit that “clash of civilizations” of Islamophobia narrative is not only false but dangerous. “War on Terror”=waging war vs Muslims but #J6 & #BuffaloMassacre reveal terror is not one religion. When Muslims are “legit” targets…that supremacist hate spreads further. ImageImageImageImage
Who was it “okay” to torture? (assumed is a terrorist?) Whose civil liberties disappeared 20 years ago? Muslims.

“But you all ‘deserve’ it” we’ve heard &: Why didn’t you stop terrorism? Why haven’t you apologized about x & y?

Now: consequences of that

vox.com/2016/3/31/1133…
The “Great Replacement” is an extension of “Clash of Civilizations” that conflict/war is “inevitable” between “different” humans defined by race or religion. It dehumanizes some humans as “less than” or “threat.” Once you label as such, violence follows. vox.com/science-and-he…
Read 22 tweets

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